The Google News Showcase is starting to launch in more countries around the world, including the United Kingdom and Argentina, in the wake of its launch in Australia last week. The digital news summary includes free and paid articles from more than 120 UK agencies and 40 Argentine agencies, bringing its count to 450 publications. Google’s British media partners range from major news networks such as Reuters for business and political media like The Financial Times and New Statesmanand newspapers The telegraph, The Independent and Midland News Association.
Participating publishers receive dedicated panels displaying their selected articles that users can browse through the Google News app, mobile web browsers and Discover on iOS. Touching an article will take you to the full story on the publisher’s website. Google will also show panels from news providers you follow and offer recommended panels within the “For you” feed and the “Newsstand” section of your News product.
The web giant says Showcase can help big publishers gain new subscribers by highlighting content with paid access, while giving smaller newspapers a bigger platform for their production. But in reality, Google’s relationship with the news media is far from friendly and Showcase suffered from it.
Google postponed plans to launch the product in Australia last year and recently threatened to withdraw its search engine after being told to split royalties with publishers. It seems to have solved some of these problems, however, with the product arriving in the country on February 4. Meanwhile, French regulators pressured him to agree to pay local media, although he still needs to make individual arrangements with his partners.